"Insert Witty Title Here" Pre-Trip Report

Hey howdy hey! This is my first pre-trip report out here… hopefully I'm doing this thing right, heh. Bear with me!

I'm James, 22, born and raised in West Palm Beach, Florida, and now I live/go to school alllllllll the way out in lame ol' Southern California (it's not all sunny and awesome like it's made out to be!). I spent my life going to WDW/UO/SWO/all the other stuffs in fan-freaking-tastic Orlando monthly, and I moved there out of high school for my first year of college. Needless to say, I miss the place like crazy. It's been a strange transition into planning actual trips when I was living 5 min. away from Universal three years ago, but it's pretty fun deciding where to eat when and stalking travel sites for the best flight deals daily.

This is my girlfriend, Laura. She's from upstate New York and she's been here just a year or so longer than I have. She's a huge WDW fan, and she used to love DL a lot until I started dragging her there way too much.

My last full-blown vacation to WDW was in November of last year. Laura posted a trip report (Our Not-So-Merry Thanksgiving Vacation) for that one. We also got to go to WDW in June, but that was a quick one-day/three-park shebang while we were in Florida to visit my family and friends (I even wrote a small TR: A Quick Visit to Orlando TR). Now we're getting to go again in September for Epcot's 30th birthday and the Celebration 30 event being held by WDWCelebrations! I said we were absolutely going from the moment this was announced, especially since I didn't get to go to Epcot's 25th's celebration. I was in 12th grade at the time and my mom wouldn't let me skip school to drive to Orlando for the day, haha.

We weren't sure if we could get another trip going so soon after our last one, but it all worked out in the end. Airfare wasn't *too* bad - $317 round-trip from LAX, both non-stop flights - and my folks own a condo in Kissimmee that we stay at while in town. My folks are also covering my flight and tickets as an early birthday present, which is nice. I haven't booked a rental car yet, but from looking around it should be under $100 for our entire stay. We're also not sure what to do about ticket - Laura and I both have PAPs for DLR, but they're on monthly payments, and we're not entirely sure if we could upgrade to Premier Passports by paying the WDW difference and continuing monthly payments on the DLR portion. Laura read on another forum that it can be done, but we'll ask on our next visit to Disneyland. The upgrade cost would be $60-70 less than buying a 3-day park hopper, so I hope it works.

 

[NemoRocks78]

Here's our "plan" as of now!

Friday, September 28th: Bolt out the door to LAX as soon as Laura gets home from work at 5:30PM. Hopefully she can leave a tad earlier. It's Friday so traffic on the 5 is gonna be awful and we have a stupid 90 mile drive ahead of us. I'm planning on stopping for dinner on the way if we can get close enough without being short on time. Our flight leaves at 10:35PM. We hate overnighters but Laura didn't think she could get Friday off as well. I'll try and get some sleep with the help of fun drugs, haha.

Saturday, September 29th: We'll land bright and early at 6:20AM. This will feel like 3am to us. I can adapt pretty well to time change but Laura has more of a problem doing it. She'll live, though. We'll grab the rental car from wherever we're getting it from and head straight to the condo in south Kissimmee to shower and change clothes, and then we're off to the Kingdom! I'm hoping we arrive just in time for the WDWCelebrations group lunch at 11:45am. We'll hit all the classics and enjoy the park after until it's time to go to the Contemp for our 5:05PM ADR at The Wave! We'll be dining with our friend and fellow forum member Monty, and hopefully our friends Jack & Katie will also be able to make it. I love the pork tenderloin here. This will be Laura's first time and I'm expecting her to eat off their kid's menu cuz she's so picky. After dinner I imagine it's back to the Kingdom for nighttime festivities until close.

Sunday, September 30th: This day is completely up in the air right now. A lot of folks are going to D23's Epcot 30th event, and while I'd love to go too, I'd rather save the money for merchandise the next day and stuff. So we don't know what to do. We may or may not go to the Universal parks and Halloween Horror Nights at night - all depends on if my good friend Nick can make it up from WPB to go with us. Another idea is just to do random things, like outlet malls and such (with lunch at Steak N Shake, as we don't have any in California and it's Laura's most favorite place in the world). Maybe SeaWorld and then head to Epcot in the evening? Who knows. I'm also sure my parents will be driving up from WPB to meet with us, so that'll factor into this day as well.

Oh - and on this day we'll be checking into the Clarion Inn Lake Buena Vista. You see, our condo is great - 3BR/2BA, overlooks Kissimmee Oaks Golf Club, etc. It's just such a far drive from everything! Staying on property would've been great, but we really just need a place to shower and sleep and paying what they want for a value that weekend just isn't worth it. This Clarion is a quick drive away from the parks, has great reviews, and I got a great rate of $49/night.

Monday, October 1st: Epcot's 30th birthday! I can't wait for this day. We'll be up early to be there at opening and do whatever they've got going on (including buying epic merch!). At 11:55AM we have a lunch ADR with Jack, Katie, and Monty at Coral Reef. This is Laura and I's first time eating there, so we're excited. We'll do park things throughout the day with friends and then dinner is currently planned as touring the F&W Festival kiosks with everyone. I always love trying what they offer, and this will be my first time at F&W not underage, so that should be fun. The park closes at 9, so we'll have to find something to do afterwards… maybe Downtown Disney will do the trick.

Tuesday, October 2nd: It's our last day. I'd say we have until about 3:30PM or so to hit the parks. I'm currently trying to decide where to make a lunch ADR, but it's difficult to think where we'll be! I don't think either of us care about going to Animal Kingdom on this trip, so we'll probably start the day at Hollywood Studios to simply ride Tower, Coaster, and Movie Ride before getting the heck outta there. I don't like to spend a lot of time at that park. Our flight leaves MCO at 7:05PM, so we'll need to have enough time to get gas, return the car, and get through the airport. Then we're back in LAX and reality around 9:23PM.

Well, that should do it for now. I think I might've written too much, but oh well. I'll try to keep this thing updated with our plans for Sunday and Tuesday. Suggestions also welcome, heh. No doubt we'll be able to figure out something good! Thanks for reading!

 

[ppodangel]

Sounds like a fun filled visit! We arrive on Sept 29th too (but from UK)

 

[NemoRocks78]

Sounds like a fun filled visit! We arrive on Sept 29th too (but from UK)

Thanks! I sure hope it is. And that's awesome - looks like a lot o' folks from around here are coming in at that time. Must be a great time to visit!

 

[Monty]

Yay!

 

[NemoRocks78]

Yay!

Hey! I think you're involved in this trip somehow!

 

[Monty]

Yes, now if we could just teach you to flag appropriately... @NemoRocks, @Laura, @SweetMagic and @brkgnews would all know what's shakin'!

 

[NemoRocks78]

Yes, now if we could just teach you to flag appropriately... @NemoRocks, @Laura, @SweetMagic and @brkgnews would all know what's shakin'!

Yeah, yeah. I'll figure it out someday! @Laura (see?!) had to show me how to do it the first time. :lookaroun

Signed on to the Delta website tonight to check out seat assignments… twas nice enough to tell me I have 48 days until departure! What a pain the waiting game is!!

 

[PolynesianPrincess]

Excellent PTR! I'll be there for Epcot's 30th as well!! We are also eating at Coral Reef for the first time while we're there and I'm excited as well.

 

[SweetMagic]

Yes, now if we could just teach you to flag appropriately... @NemoRocks, @Laura, @SweetMagic and @brkgnews would all know what's shakin'!

Thank you for the tag @Monty, I would have missed this entire thread. Heck, I mighta missed the entire trip!

I'm looking forward to giving Coral Reef another try. Last time I was there it was pretty meh, this time will be much better, I can feel it.

Should I start a Pre-Trip Report for my Dec. trip to Disneyland that includes my entire travel party? *lookaround*

 

[Monty]

Thank you for the tag @Monty, I would have missed this entire thread. Heck, I mighta missed the entire trip!

I'm looking forward to giving Coral Reef another try. Last time I was there it was pretty meh, this time will be much better, I can feel it.

Should I start a Pre-Trip Report for my Dec. trip to Disneyland that includes my entire travel party? *lookaround*

Clearly communication regarding upcoming trips has been sorely lacking...

 

[wiigirl]

Love the pics!

 

[NemoRocks78]

Excellent PTR! I'll be there for Epcot's 30th as well!! We are also eating at Coral Reef for the first time while we're there and I'm excited as well.

Thanks! And very cool! Everyone really is gonna be there at that time, haha. I'm super excited for Coral Reef… seems like that's one restaurant that gets passed by often. Not sure if it's the price, food, etc. I really don't know why I've never eaten there, but it's definitely about time.

Thank you for the tag @Monty, I would have missed this entire thread. Heck, I mighta missed the entire trip!

I'm looking forward to giving Coral Reef another try. Last time I was there it was pretty meh, this time will be much better, I can feel it.

Should I start a Pre-Trip Report for my Dec. trip to Disneyland that includes my entire travel party? *lookaround*

Welcome, Kate! Hopefully Coral Reef holds up for us! And you should definitely do a PTR for Dizzyland… no doubt a lot of people here would LOVE to know who's comin' with ya!

Love the pics!

Thanks! Those were from the Cars Land/Buena Vista Street preview in June. Hopefully I'll have a ton o' pics when we return to put together an epic trip report!

 

[SweetMagic]

Welcome, Kate! Hopefully Coral Reef holds up for us! And you should definitely do a PTR for Dizzyland… no doubt a lot of people here would LOVE to know who's comin' with ya!

Or, they'd love to stop speaking to me.

 

[NemoRocks78]

Well, while everyone was busy making Be Our Guest ressies today, I snuck in and picked up one for the Plaza on our departure day at 12:10. It's simple, cheap, super good, and easy to get to. I thought about Via Napoli, but if we're gonna be in Epcot for 12 hours the day before I'm not so sure we'll be up for heading all the way to the back of WS and all that the next day, heh. So we'll start the day at Hollywood Studios and finish our trip at the good ol' Magic Kingdom. It sucks that we're missing New Fantasyland by a few weeks, but that means we'll have to hurry back to see it.

 

[NemoRocks78]

We leave three weeks from today! I can't wait.

First off, school has begun (I go to Cal State San Marcos) and that weekend and following weekdays are completely free and clear of any tests/projects due/major homework/etc. Woohoo!

A week ago Delta e-mailed me saying there was a change in our itinerary. I was scared to death to open it… but then I find that our departure time from MCO is now 6:50PM, instead of 7:05PM. 15 less minutes in Orlando - damn you, Delta!

Got the rental car secured the other day, so we're good there. Now we just need tickets! Hopefully Laura will be up for a trip to Disneyland this weekend or next so we can figure out if we can upgrade our monthly payment Premium Annual Passports to Premier Passports. If we can - awesome! If not, my mom will pick up a Florida resident 3-day park hopper for me from AAA and ship it over here before we leave.

I switched our hotel for Sunday and Monday to the Rodeway Inn Maingate - off 192 near Old Town. I used to stay at the HoJo Inn next door a lot on trips when I was a kid. The reviews basically say the rooms are pretty good for a shower and sleep, which is all it's needed for since we'll be up early and back late. $25/night with AAA discount can't be beat!

It looks pretty likely that my buddy Nick is coming up on Sunday the 30th, so we'll be going to Halloween Horror Nights that night. That should be pretty epic. During the day we'll hang around Orlando with my parents. I'm not gonna worry about buying park tickets for the day, especially since we'll probably want to sleep in that morning 'cause of the long day we're having on Saturday.

Sept. 28th can't get here soon enough!

 

[tropicalsmile]

Great PTR! I'll be there September 20-28. I would love to be there for Epcot's 30th, but it's just a couple days too late for me. Have a fun trip!

 

[NemoRocks78]

So, I'm going insane. We leave on Friday but I'm DYING to leave immediately! I can't focus on anything but getting to the airport and on the plane. The bags are packed and everything. I have two classes tomorrow, but I don't even want to go (though I should, considering I have a feeling that one teacher may plan a test for Tuesday when I'm not there… ugh!) I don't what's wrong with me… I've never been so hyped in my life. Does anyone know how to control this?

Laura actually got Friday off from work, so we won't be stressed about making it to LAX on time that evening! This is great news, as anyone who's dealt with L.A. traffic on a workday evening can tell you. While I'm sad this didn't happen sooner so we could've left earlier in the day or even Thursday night, a huge weight has been lifted off our shoulders with the traffic stress gone. We can leave earlier in the day now, to the point where we can make a quick visit to Universal Studios Hollywood! I just want to run in and get some rides on Transformers and Mummy. The park closes at 6pm, so we'll have dinner after and then head to the airport.

It turns out that Laura was able to get the Premier Passport by paying off the WDW side and keeping monthly payments on the DL side, which is great. Now we don't have to worry about paying for parking and not having any merchandise discounts. I was going to do the upgrade as well, but my DL AP was from before the recent price hike (Laura's just expired) and my payment would've been much higher. My mom picked me up a Florida Resident Play 4 Day park hopper voucher at AAA, which got here today so I'm also set. We'll both just have to stop at a ticket window so I can redeem the voucher for my ticket and so Laura can have her pass activated for WDW.

My buddy couldn't get the time off to come up for the weekend (though he's going to try and come Monday and Tuesday), so we aren't going to Horror Nights. It sucks, but instead we'll spend Sunday evening in Epcot. We have a 6pm dinner at Tokyo Dining with Monty, Jackie (brkgnews), and Kate (SweetMagic). Jackie and Kate have to finish the D23 thing after dinner, so we'll hang out with Monty and the WDWCelebrations group for the rest of the evening.

I also switched our lunch ADR on Tuesday from the Plaza to Liberty Tree Tavern. I saw availability for noon and decided to take it. I've never eaten at Liberty Tree, so it'll be nice to cross another one off the list... and the food sounds awesome, too! I'm always ready for a good ol' turkey dinner.